Centrifugal speed-regulator.



PATENTED- JAN. 24, 1905.

R. LEWIS. "GENTRIPUGAL SPEED REGULATOR.

APPLIOATION FILED DEO.16, 1903.

Patented January 24, 190 5.

PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD LEWIS, OF RIVERDALE, MARYLAND.

CENTRIFUGAL SPEED-REGULATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0.'780,51l, dated January24, 1905.

Application filed December 16, 1903. Serial No. 185,334.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, RICHARD H. LnwIs,a citizen of the United States,residing at Riverdale, in the county of Prince George and State ofMaryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inCentrifugal Speed- Regulators, of which the following is aspecification. l

This invention relates to speed-regulators comprised in the class ofmachine-brakes, and

pertains especially to a centrifugal speedcon trolling device.

The object of the invention is to provide a novel and peculiarconstruction and arrangement of parts in a device for regulating orcontrolling speed which shall quickly and positively coact with theelement under its control, and thereby prevent lost motion of suchelement or of the parts of the device.

A further object of the invention is to pro vide a specially-arrangedmechanism for controlling the movement of a sprocket-chain wheel wherebythe speed of said wheel is governed and to devise a peculiar frame orhanger for mounting said wheel and mechanism together thereon, so thatthey may be suspended in operative position as desired without-separateadjustment thereof.

With these and various other objects in View the invention consistsprincipally in loosely mounting apair of frictional blocks formingbrake-shoes within a fixed housing to work about a housing-stud, apinion loose upon the stud and having a flange provided with projectionsinto the shoes to give them frictional bearing on the housing.

As far as known to me speed-controlling devices appertaining to thisinvention have brake-shoes working in a ring concentric to a shaft andbetween radial arms on the shaft,

the latter being provided with a governor, or the shoes are carriedbetween two revoluble clutch-sections secured to a divided shaft andprovided with a brake mechanism. It is therefore the purpose of thisinvention to vary such arrangement, and thereby overcome the objectionsand disadvantages found therein, to reduce the number of parts employedin them, to provide more direct and closer connections between thebrake-shoes and the element they control, and to use certain of saidconnections as a means forholding the shoes and a flanged pinion incooperative position.

In the, accompanying drawings, forming part of thisap'plication, Figure1 is an elevation of the device applied as a fire-escape, partly brokenaway. Fig. 2 is a top or edge view of the device. Fig. 3 is an enlargedcentral longitudinal section partly broken away. Fig. 4 is a section onthe line as m, Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of one of theshoes. Fig. 6 is a similar view showing a modification of the shoes.

The same numeral references denote the same parts throughout the severalviews of the drawings.

The speed-controlling device being devised especially to control thefall of a fire-escape chain, it is for purposes of exemplificationshown. suspended from a window by a frame having a circular flange 1projecting therefrom and forming'a housing, an arm 2, entending from thehousing and pivoted to swing from a fixed bracket 3, a projection 4 fromthe housing opposite the arm2, a shaft-bearing lug 5 formed on the saidprojection, and

' The pair of friction-blocks which constitute the brake-shoes 12 havenon-frictional faces 13, which incline, from each other to theperipheryof the shoes to permit their movement without contact with eachother, and each shoe has a U-shaped cavity 14 at the juncture of thefaces 13. This cavity extending only into the shoes and not through themstrengthens the shoes at this point, increases their durability, andforms an uninterrupted shoe-bearing surface for the back or base of thehousing. The back or base of the housing has a boss 15, in which thestud is secured and strengthens the housing at this point.

A pinion 16, having a flange 17 formed on or secured thereto, is looselymounted on the stud 6 and held there by the gear-wheel 9 bearing againstthe conical outer face of the flange 17 and meshing with said pinion.Lugs or projections 19 on the flange 17 extend into the shoe-cavities tooperate the shoes, and the flange 17 forms a revoluble cap or cover forthe housing. By this arrangement the gearwheel 9 not only makes a directand close connection between the sprocket-wheel and the controllingdevice, but said wheel constitutes the only means of holding the pinionupon the stud and the flange to the housing, said flange forming arevoluble cap or cover for the housing as well as the shoes and fullyprotecting the same.

Referring to the modification shown in Fig. 6, there is a U-shapedopening 18 through the shoe instead of the cavity hereinbefore referredto, so as to permit the use of longer flange projections, if desired.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a centrifugal speed-regulator, the combination with a fixedhousing, a stud secured to the base of the housing andprojeetingtherefrom through the face of the housing, of a pinion havinga flange to cover said face and revoluble on the stud projection, a pairof friction-shoes having cavities, projections from the flange extendinginto the shoe-cavities, and a gear meshing with the pinion to operate itand to hold it on the stud.

2. In a centrifugal speed-regulator brake, the combination, with anon-revoluble housing, a stud fixed to and projecting from the housing,and a pinion upon the stud and having a flange, of a pair of brake-shoesloosely held within the housing by the flange, projections extendingfrom the flange into the shoes to operate them, and a driving-gearmeshing with the pinion and bearing on the said flange to hold thelatter to the housing.

3. In a centrifugal speed-regulator brake. the combination, with anon-revoluble housing having an arm by which the housing is suspended, astud projecting from the housing opposite the arm, and a shaft-bearinglug formed on the projection. of a pair of brakeshoes loose about thestud and bearing on the housing, a pinion loose upon the stud, a flangeon the pinion,1n'ojections extending from the flange into the shoes,ashaft extending through the said bearing-lug, and a gear-wheel carriedby the shaft to operate the pinion and to hold the flange to thehousing.

4. A speed-regulator con'iprising a non-revoluble housing, anon-revoluble stud fixed centrally in the housing, a cap or cover forthe housing revoluble upon the stud and having projections, a pair ofbrake-shoes loose within the housing and adapted to have saidprojections extend thereinto without extending through them, and apinion carried by the cap or cover.

5. In a speed-regulator, the combination, with a fixed housing, a studprojecting from the back of the housing, and shoes loose in the housingand having cavities, of a cap or cover for the housing revoluble on thestud and having projections extending into the cavities to operate theshoes, a pinion carried by the cap or cover, and a gear-wheel meshingwith the pinion and engaging said cap or cover to hold the latter to thehousing and the pinion loose upon the stud.

6. In a speed-regulator, the combination, with a fixed housing having acentral boss, a stud projecting from the boss, semicircular shoes makingfrictional contact with the inner periphery of the housing and havingfaces which incline from an opening or cavity so as to prevent the shoesfrom working against said boss and engaging each other or the stud, of apinion having a flange forming a cap or cover for the housing,projections extending from the flange into said openings or cavities,and a gear-wheel meshing with the pinion and holding the latter and theflange loosely upon the stud.

7. The eombination,with a stud, a base-plate to which the stud is fixedand provided with a surrounding flange, and the brake-shoes, of a cap orcover revoluble on the stud and forming with said plate and flange ahousing for the shoes, and projections extending from the cap or coverinto the shoes to operate them.

In witness whereof I hereunto set my hand in thepresence of twowitnesses.

RICHARD H. LE\Y.IS.

Witnesses:

C. F. BELT, C. T. BRIDE.

